Getting a car into ireland

Spipov

Hi all.
i dont really know where to post that, motors forum isnt very informative. please mods, move this thread appropriately if need be.

Right, im a non eu fella, with an international licence. we drive on the same side of the road as here back home and the authorities here do not want to exchange my licence back home for one here.
thats fine. i will be doing the driver's test as soon as i get the time.

however, in the meantime, id like to get a car.

from uk. (cheaper). does anyone know whats the deal with bringing a car from the uk?ill be insured there and would basically have everything registered there (brother lives there, gonna be his car with me added as driver).

probably an old car that will require an MOT every year.

its going to have a british plate.

anyway, does anyone know the deal when u bring a car over from uk? do u have to go back every year/6 months? would belfast be ok?
how about road taxes and registration and all that?
do u have to pay anything when u get over here?

thanks for any help, appreciated

mike65

http://www.oasis.gov.ie/moving_country/moving_to_ireland/importing_car_into_ireland.html?search=importing+car

Mike.

Spipov

thanks for the quick reply.

my question is, if anyone can enlighten me:

im not staying permanently here. is it possible to have insurance from uk and not pay vrt?i dont want to import the vehicle, i will be returning it to the uk afterwards.

# Visitors to Ireland who have owned their vehicles abroad for more than 6 months and who will be resident here temporarily
# People who have owned their vehicles abroad for more than 6 months and who are moving permanently to Ireland

like i said, it will be my brother's car, ill just be an added driver. would that be possible?

Davidth88

As a person who imported a car , you have to own/run it abroad for 6 months to not pay VRT , and thats VRT on the ' book ' price not the price you paid.

You have to show service records, petrol bills, proof you lived in the UK , ie
bills etc . They will ask for it, I had all of this and they seemed sort of disappointed because they kept on asking for more and more , ie bank statements , and I had it all prepared ......in the end they gave in !

I don't know if you are only importing it temp , be careful ,

a) Most UK insurance policies would only cover you 3rd party here, even if your cover is fully comp in the UK.

b) The Gardi/Tax people have been known to put up road blocks outside places that employ a lot of non-nationals , I saw this 2-3 times outside Xerox in Ballycoolin.

Judging by the number of NI reg cars you see around its sure a lot of people flout these rules , however saying that I have noted a decrease recently.

My advise would be to buy a run-around here ........

As for doing the test here , you are obviously going to be here longer than a year , because thats the waiting time at most test centres I believe

murphaph

How long are you staying here for OP? You seem to imply a temporary stay but then mention "taking the car back to the UK for its MOT every year". I'm a bit puzzled by that. If you intend staying here longer than 6 months you are supposed to have an irish registered vehicle, nothing else. You will be using irish roads, not british ones, so you should be paying irish taxes for them if your stay is longer than 6 months (a generous allowance on a 'temporary' stay if you ask me).

You could do as you propose but beware you will be breaking the letter as well as the spirit of irish law and of course, your UK insurance will be void if you declare a UK adress as the one where the vehicle is 'usually kept' (all insurance policies ask for this and taking the car to Ireland would require your UK insurance company be notified of this and of course, they may refuse to allow this at all or hike your premium considerably). You will also have a major problem with your licence-you (presumably) would have a UK provisional licence for your UK insurance policy as an irish one would not be covered at all under such a UK policy. The problem is that a UK provisional licence is worthless here, you would simply be driving without a licence if you took to the road with one and hence, your insurance s null and void. You can't take out insurance based on posessing a UK provisional and then drive on an Irish provisional.

In short, your scheme would depend on you holding a full EU/EEA driving licence, which you don't.

My Big Toe

I think murphaph never even exceeds the speed limit. He and Nordydan should get a room together IMO. Most of the rest of us are a little rough around the edges, a little gritty if you will.
Just drive the hunk of junk south across the border and you'll be fine and takes your chances. If you pile up less than 12 penalty points during your time here you'll be fine. Remember drive carefully on the new improved roads and then you can drive "normally" then on the older, unsafe roads - it's the key to keeping your points low.

****I deleted the 2nd part of this post as it was kind of juvenille****

ardmacha

A couple of points about this. Firstly the revenue can simply seize your car if they think you are using it here illegally. If it is old then you may not care, but if it is old then you are not saving much either. Secondly if you get cheap insurance on the basis that you are in England then that too would be invalid if in fact you weren't living in England.

murphaph

My Big Toe wrote:

I think murphaph never even exceeds the speed limit.

Not ever, never ever ever on my 140mph capable motorcycle have I exceeded the stated speed limit

Spipov

good points really.id be getting a car here definitely.im planning to stay here for about 4 years (till i finish my postgrad medical work). i just want the uk car till i can get myself the full irish driving licence whilst getting a cheaper option from the uk and be able to drive with an affordable insurance and not some killer insurance on provisional licence
.ill start earning next year, so can then afford a car, and the time to get the licence done.the uk car is just going to be temporary really. (i will be able to afford a car in this country then. god. why are they so expensive?!)

Victor

Are you allowed do your test in a foreign registered car?

murphaph

Victor wrote:

Are you allowed do your test in a foreign registered car?

Nope, the letter you get explains that it must be on irish plates.

murphaph

Spipov wrote:

good points really.id be getting a car here definitely.im planning to stay here for about 4 years (till i finish my postgrad medical work). i just want the uk car till i can get myself the full irish driving licence whilst getting a cheaper option from the uk and be able to drive with an affordable insurance and not some killer insurance on provisional licence
.ill start earning next year, so can then afford a car, and the time to get the licence done.the uk car is just going to be temporary really. (i will be able to afford a car in this country then. god. why are they so expensive?!)

You know what they say, if you can't afford insurance, you can't afford to drive unfortunately. To be honest, if you are of the age where insurance on a provisional is expensive then it won't make much difference having the full licence, it'll still be expensive. Like I said-a UK insurance policy on a provisional licence is absolutely useless to you as the UK provisional is not a driving licence. If you are after a scam that may work, then use your brother's address to apply for the UK test and do that (it doesn't take anywhere near as long to get a test date) and assuming you pass you can then tink about a UK policy on a UK car. Still illegal of course, but 'less illegal'!!

Victor

Moved from Commuting & Transport

kelzer

When filling in form C&E 1077 (Exemption from VRT form) I've noticed theres a part at the end of form where there is a requirement to show evidence for disposal of property abroad. Does this mean the VRT exemption doesn't apply if you move to ireland permanently but still have a property in your home country? Or is that box there just as an option for the VRO office to tick?

ninty9er

Just get a cheap Irish car and insure it for 2-3 grand.

1. You'll have to pass the theory test to get a provisional permit.

2 You'll have to be certified as of "sufficient sight" by an opthalmic optician before you can take the permit and apply for a provisional licence.

There are major changes coming along in the next few months as regards licencing so watch the Dept. of Transport website.

If the upholders of our laws are a bit lazy the Revenue Commissioners will hunt you down to squeeze every penny they can out of you, so you might as well just accept that motoring in Ireland is expensive and pay up or get used to waiting for a bus that will most likely be late

Victor

kelzer wrote:

When filling in form C&E 1077 (Exemption from VRT form) I've noticed theres a part at the end of form where there is a requirement to show evidence for disposal of property abroad. Does this mean the VRT exemption doesn't apply if you move to ireland permanently but still have a property in your home country? Or is that box there just as an option for the VRO office to tick?

That just might be to catch people for CGT on the sale of property.

kelzer

Going to be moving to Dublin permanently from Belfast in the new year. Will probably be reregistering my car soon after. Probably wont have my house sold at that time. I'm just wondering will having a house in the north not allow me to avail of the VRT exemption on the car?